


Stood Up

by VoidWhereProhibited (Kattywompus)



Category: Game Grumps
Genre: Alternate Universe, Drabble, Fluff, M/M, Meet-Cute
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-10-18
Updated: 2015-10-18
Packaged: 2018-04-26 21:55:35
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,330
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5021938
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kattywompus/pseuds/VoidWhereProhibited
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Dan's been waiting for a while, and it doesn't look like his date is going to show. He's just about to pack up and call it a night, when suddenly a stranger jumps in to save the evening.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Stood Up

**Author's Note:**

> This was a quick drabble written on request from someone who doesn't think I write enough Egobang. It's based on a wonderful idea by tumblr user likehemmins/peacetealuke. I hope you enjoy!

Dan glanced at his watch again.

8 o'clock. Only thirty minutes late. She could still show.

Even as he thought it, he knew it wasn't true. He couldn't wait for her for an hour. It was too long. One more pass from the waiter and he'd have to order. Or leave. Both seemed like admitting defeat. The strangers seated around him had started to whisper to their dinner partners. Dan knew without looking that their eyes were full of pity.

He knew he shouldn't have trusted her. "Just give me a chance to cancel," she'd said. "I'll show you that I can put *us* before work."

The waiter walked by with a bottle of wine. He raised his eyebrows at Dan as he passed. The judgement was palpable.

Dan sighed and ran his hands through his hair. He'd pulled it back for the occasion; put on a clean shirt and slacks, trimmed his beard, put on a tie. She liked nice clothes, and nice food, eaten at nice places. Dan had wanted to do that for her. To show her that he was putting in effort, too. That it wasn't just her. That they were in this together.

Alone at the table, Danny realized that they weren't.

The waiter walked back by again, this time moving back toward the kitchen. Resigned, Dan lifted his hand to catch his attention.

Before he could, however, something else caught his attention. A man - a stranger, really, someone he had never even seen before - walked up to his table and started talking to him like they were old friends.

"Oh my gosh, Percy, I am so sorry," he said loudly.

The stranger was much younger than Dan, but tall. He was well built; not muscular, but not fat, either. He had wavy brown hair with a single blonde streak that fell over his eyes, which were dark and intense and staring right at him.

"I'm sorry--?" Dan started. He was confused. Who was this person?

Before he could finish the thought, the man was talking again, pulling out his chair and sitting down.

"The traffic was hideous," he continued, in that same loud tone. "Did you already order?"

Dan just stared at him, flabbergasted.

After he'd gotten settled, the man leaned across the table.

"I'm Arin," he muttered. He looked serious, but his eyes were practically sparkling. He wore the face of the man who was getting away with something. "It looked like you were about to leave, but I thought you at least deserved some nice food. Whoever stood you up is a total asshole."

Realization dawned on Dan, and he felt himself beginning to smile.

"No, not yet," he said, matching the stranger's - Arin's - tone. "I'm sorry the traffic was so bad."

Arin met his eyes and smiled while he leaned back in his seat. Dan couldn't look right at him; he looked incredibly pleased with himself.

It didn't take long for the waiter to notice a new person at Dan's table, and he brought another menu over, which Arin declined. Dan ordered immediately: he was starving. When the waiter left, he looked at Arin questioningly.

"Sure you don't want anything? I'm buying," he said with a smile.

"I already ate," Arin said, shaking his head.

Dan nodded. Of course he had. H'd come from inside the restaurant, hadn't he?

"Can I at least get you a drink or something? A glass of wine, coffee?" Dan asked.

Arin smiled sheepishly, and shrugged. Something about that made Dan's heart skip a beat, a feeling that he pushed down immediately.

"I don't drink," Arin was saying, when Dan wrenched himself back to consciousness. "And I'm not a huge fan of coffee."

"Oh," Dan said. He thought about it for a minute, then shook his head. "Well, there's gotta be something I can do. You saved me from looking like an idiot."

"You wouldn't have looked like an idiot. The person who stood you up would've, though." Arin shrugged.

There it was again. The shrug. Something about it - plus what the stranger had just said - made Dan's heart race. He took a deep breath to try and steady himself. What was happening?

He didn't have to worry about it too long before the waiter arrived with the soup Dan had ordered. He felt somewhat awkward eating it in front of Arin, who only had a glass of water, but that soon melted away once Arin started making conversation.

The conversation was one of the weirdest Dan had ever experienced. It continued in the theme of Arin playing his dinner partner. First, he talked at length about the traffic he'd had to deal with; the wreck, the cars, what song was on the radio. He included Dan - that is, "Percy" - as much as he could.

"You know how well I take care of my car, Perce," he would say. "I wasn't sure I'd get out of there without a scratch. I don't think I could stand it if anything happened to my baby."

Dan joined in happily. At first, he found the whole thing mildly amusing. It was fun to play a character with a strange man he'd never met before. The amusement quickly turned to hilarity as Arin gave them both a background and jobs. Eventually, it was like they were putting on a skit, the only audience being themselves.

Dan played Percy, the mild mannered and stuffy electrical engineer. Arin played an obnoxious movie executive that it was almost impossible not to hate. Dan suspected Arin picked this role so that Dan would look even better by comparison to anyone who happened to be watching. At one point, Arin affected a terrible New Jersey accent for the character. By the end of the meal, Dan was laughing so hard, he almost couldn't finish his meal.

"And I told her," Arin said as Dan tried to finish off his entree, "Fine, you can take the kids - just leave me the recliner!'"

Dan barely managed not to choke on his final bite, and was silently laughing while the waiter took his dishes away. When the waiter had left, Dan had finally calmed down enough to speak normally.

"That's insane, Arin. You know that, right?"

"Oh yeah," Arin said, his voice thick with the ridiculous accent. "I--"

"No, no, stop," Dan interrupted, laughing. "I mean, you. YOU. You're insane."

"Me?" Arin asked. The accent was gone.

"Yeah. Are you really a movie executive?"

"Are you really an electrical engineer?" Arin countered.

"No!" Dan said, laughing again. "That's Percy, not me. And I didn't even PICK that! You did! I don't even know what an electrical engineer does."

Arin laughed for the first time all dinner. Dan grinned. It was infectious.

"Me neither," he admitted. "So what do you do?"

"Um," Dan said, startled by the sudden shift in conversation. "I'm an ad man. I work at an advertising agency."

"What, really?" Arin's eyebrows disappeared into his hair. "I wouldn't have guessed."

Dan laughed nervously, and ran his hand through his hair, unsure what to think. What did that mean?

"Yeah. Well."

"No, really," Arin continued. "You're just so funny and creative, I guess I thought..."

Dan blinked.

"What?"

"I dunno! It sounds stupid now that I say it. I just thought you must do something creative."

"Advertising is creative!" Dan said, defensively.

"I know! That's why I said it was dumb."

Dan watched Arin for a minute. The man looked a little self conscious, like he'd made a mistake. Dan studied him for a minute, then he shrugged.

"Well... I am in a band."

"What, really?" Arin immediately perked up. "What kind?"

"It's kind of a... comedy band? I don't know, it's stupid. I gave up on music a long time ago."

"No, that's not stupid!" Arin said vehemently. "Never give up on your passions, man. So, comedy band, huh? I'd like to hear it sometime."

As he said this, his eye rose to meet Dan's, who felt his heart attempt to leap out of his chest.

"Uh... yeah. Sure," he managed.

They waited for a moment in silence while the waiter brought their check. Dan's mind turned to leaving, and he had a thought he hadn't considered before.

"Hey," he said, suddenly. "You were eating here before, right?"

"Yeah," Arin said, nodding.

"So, if this was supposed to be a ruse to make people think you were the person I was meeting, how was that supposed to work? Didn't you think the waiter or somebody would recognize you?"

Arin smiled.

"I came from another part of restaurant. We had a different waitress. I figured she wouldn't come through here."

"I see," Dan said.

"I figured it was worth the risk. You looked like you needed saving." Arin paused for a minute, and then continued in a rush. "So, who stood you up, anyway? I can't imagine a guy like you having trouble keeping a date."

Dan ignored the blood rushing to his face and shrugged.

"My girlfriend."

"Oh."

"Well, ex-girlfriend now, I guess."

"Oh!" Arin sat up a little straighter, and then looked sympathetic. "I mean, oh. I'm sorry, man. That sucks."

"Yeah," Dan said. After a moment, he shrugged. "Well, at least I met a cool guy!"

Arin laughed and shook his head.

"No, no. I'm the one who met a cool guy." He spread his hands out in front of him. "At least, I'd say that if you had ever told me your name."

"Oh, shit!" Dan grinned as he realized the man was right. "Oh, wow, yeah. I never did. I'm Dan. Daniel Avidan."

"Nice to meet you, Dan," Arin said with a smile.

"Likewise, Arin."

A few seconds later, the waiter was back with Dan's card. He signed the receipt - and gave the man a sizeable tip for dealing with him all night - and stood up.

"Well," Dan said, unsure what to say.

"Yeah," Arin said, raising out of his chair.

Suddenly, a high pitched voice from behind Arin asked, "Hey, didn't I serve you earlier tonight?" Dan looked past him and saw a petite woman in a waiter's apron. Arin gave him a somewhat panicked look.

"What?" Arin said to her. "No, that was my... twin. My evil twin. Brother." He turned his head back to Dan, eyes wide.

"That's our cue!" he said with a grin, and lead the way to the door. Danny followed him, laughing the whole way, while the waiters gawked after the two of them.

After they'd gone through the doors and down the block a ways, Danny finally managed to stop laughing.

"I can never eat there again," he said, trying to catch his breath.

"Sorry about that," Arin said sheepishly. "I thought we were safe."

"Twin brother?"

"I'm bad at lying!" Arin practically shouted. His words were softened somewhat by his fit of giggles that left them both doubled over, cracking up on on the sidewalk again.

"Ah, yes," Dan choked out. "Mr. 'Oh, Hello There Stranger, Sorry I'm Late, The Traffic Was Terrible' is bad at lying. Of course."

Arin chuckled and straightened up.

"I panicked, I'm sorry!"

Once the laughter subsided, Dan nodded his forgiveness and looked up.

It was dark, and Arin was haloed by streetlamps. They watched each other for a minute in silence, two strangers now at a crossroads.

The started to speak at the same time.

"I--"

"Look--"

They laughed and stopped, gesturing to each other to finish. Finally, Arin looked the lead with a shrug and a look that send a shiver down Dan's spine.

"Look," Arin said, starting over. "I don't know how things are going to go with your girlfriend--"

"Ex-girlfriend."

"--Right. Ex-girlfriend. I don't know her. Or you, really. But I do know that keeping you waiting at dinner was probably the dumbest thing she's ever done."

Dan just watched him, heart pounding.

"I feel like... I was having dinner with my friends, tonight, and they all saw me watching you. I joked I should help you out, and... they encouraged me to do it. I dunno. I'm really glad they did."

Dan nodded, suddenly unable to look the other man in the face. He could feel his dinner churning in his stomach. He wondered if this was really happening.

"I'm glad I met you, Dan. And... I mean... if you wanted to-- I mean. Shit."

Arin spat out the last word as though he'd stubbed his toe, and Dan smiled involuntarily. He couldn't help it: Arin was cute.

"I want to get to know you better," Arin finally managed. "So, like... if you wanted to maybe exchange phone numbers, or..."

Dan tried to focus on breathing. He could feel his chest constricting, tightening around him as he struggled with this. Was another man asking him out? Was he considering it? He couldn't focus: his mind was screaming.

"As a like...? Because I don't..." he said to his feet. He couldn't look up. He couldn't bear to see Arin's face. His mind was screaming. "I mean, I've never... I'm not really into guys?"

He stared studiously down, as if there was something interesting there at all instead of just his big giant stupid clown feet. He tried to grit his teeth as he waited for a response. His mind was screaming.

"Oh," Arin said. "Yeah. I get it."

Then, "Well, anyway, Dan, I'm still glad I could help."

Dan nodded.

"Goodnight."

"Goodnight," Dan repeated. Eyes still on the ground, he heard Arin turn and start walking away.

And suddenly, he couldn't see anything anymore; anything except for the man who had come to his rescue and made him laugh harder than he had in years; who had made his heart pound so hard he thought he would need CPR; who had taken a chance and gotten shot down; whose face he couldn't even stand to see disappointed, even though he'd only known the man for an hour.

And his mind was screaming.

"Arin, wait!"

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading! Please let me know what you thought.


End file.
